Begun online in 2004 and published by Abrams in 2006, "Mom's Cancer" won the 2005 Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic, the 2007 Lulu Blooker Prize, the 2007 Harvey Award for Best New Talent, and the 2007 German Youth Literature Prize for non-fiction. It was nominated for a 2006 Quill Book Award, a 2006 Cybil Literary Award, the American Library Association's "2007 Best Books for Young Adults" Award, and two 2007 Eisner Awards. I am as surprised as anyone.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

My Friendly Neighborhood Furry-tailed Rats

About a year and a half ago, I posted this sketch of a very determined squirrel in my backyard. This little guy worked extraordinarily hard for every seed he managed to sneak from my bird feeders, clinging to a slippery pole while an infinite feast awaited just beyond the tips of his fingers.

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This morning I looked out my back window and spied the little guy below, probably a direct descendant, no less determined and a slightly more capable climber. Or maybe the pole just wasn't as slippery today.

3 comments:

I'm surprised he hasn't considered the benefits of simply clinging to the bottom of the feeder with all four feet, one of which is that it might bring the whole thing crashing to the ground and spilling its seedy goodness all over. At my last place, I solved a major squirrel problem by hanging the feeders by twine from the branches of a large tree -- the twine was too narrow to shinny down and the feeders were too high to jump up to. Unfortunately, my current house is apparently too far from the woods to give a feeling of safety and, while I get some action in the summer, I see no birds this time of year. On the other hand, no squirrels, either.

I'm surprised he hasn't considered the benefits of simply clinging to the bottom of the feeder with all four feet, one of which is that it might bring the whole thing crashing to the ground and spilling its seedy goodness all over....

This squirrel strikes me as young, exuberant, and inexperienced. In any case, its current M.O. is working, so why get more elaborate? However, I do remember a few years ago when I found the feeder suddenly, remarkably empty and went out to find that a snug plastic drain plug in the bottom had gone missing, spilling all seeds in a neat pile beneath it. I've always wondered whether the plug fell out...or was pulled.

We don't really consider the squirrels a problem; we rarely have more than a pair, and are happy to put out enough seed for everyone. But I'll remember the twine trick.

Having spent the last 15 years battling squirrels, or should I say swearing at them ("those GD little #$%* f_____!!), I have grudgingly come to admire their smarts. So it seems to mee one of them with a little Newtonian awareness will gnaw at the twine and drop the feeder to earth. but then again, I've seen squirrels fall out of trees (they should be taken out of the gene pool), so maybe I'm wrong about their IQ.